The Hennepin County Medical examiner has identified the two men killed in a fiery crash in northeast Minneapolis Friday afternoon.
35-year-old James Mahaffey and 27-year-old Timothy Ridge died after the pickup they were in crashed into a tree just after 3 p.m. in the 600 block of Columbia Parkway.
Just prior to the crash, Fridley Police detectives were called on a report that copper wire stolen from Fridley was being loaded into a truck in northeast Minneapolis.
When officers arrived, they saw a pickup truck leaving the alley and turned on their lights and siren, but turned them off when the truck accelerated away and did not try to pursue it.
The two detectives lost sight of the truck when it turned a corner but found it again less than a minute later. The truck had gone off the road, struck a tree and caught fire. Both men inside the truck were dead.
A Minneapolis police spokesman says no Minneapolis officers were involved.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
